The SOHR has now documented 145 victims killed in the Banias massacre, this comes after receiving evidence proving that the dozens of civilians who were in the torched houses or under the rubble were secretly buried by the Syrian security forces.
The security forces and gunmen from the popular committees stormed the Ras al-Nabe' neighbourhood on the morning of 3/5/2013, which lies in the souther part of Banias, after the impoverished neighbourhood was violently bombarded causing the collapse and burning of several homes. It is then that they committed the massacre, many of the victims were summarily executed and some were killed with knives and blunt objects. The dead include 34 children (all under 16, some of them were babies and toddlers) and 40 women (including old women over 60). This massacre is considered to be one of the most horrendous war crimes committed by the Syrian security services and the pro-regime gunmen, since the victims were targeted for their religious background.
We at the SOHR demand that this case, and all cases of war crimes committed in the Syrian civil war, be referred to the International Criminal Court. We also hold the International community partial responsibility for this crime because of its polarisation and the use of Syria by many states to further their own national interests, which leads to the continuation and strengthening of the militarised conflict. We urge all states to work on a joint position that would lead to the end of bloodshed in Syria and to a democratic and civil Syria that represents and protect all Syrians.
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